overview
The ultimate safari; the Serengeti wildebeest migration is one of the wildlife wonders of the world. It involves something in the region of 1.8 million wildebeest, 200,000 zebra and 400,000 gazelles, and is regarded as the best example of the struggle for survival in the great African plains.
The ‘Great Migration’is made up of millions of hoofed animals, predominantly wildebeest, which form one massive herd and journey together from their wet season range on the southern and eastern plains to their dry season habitat in the north and back again. The migration is followed closely by large numbers of vigilant predators, including lions, cheetahs, hyenas and wild dogs.
It's difficult to predict exactly where the migration will be in a given month because movements depend so much on weather patterns and these can vary by as much as 3 months, which is why we think mobile camps are such a great idea.Your safari is specifically organised around the migration affording you an experience and insight into nature that no other safari offers.
The Serengeti which means ‘endless plains’ in the Masai language is Tanzania’s oldest park. It is one of the world’s best wildlife refuges and flows into Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve to the north. The open plains are home to an estimated three million large mammals, and together with the birds and smaller animals it has the largest concentration of wildlife in the world.
The wildebeest calves are born in February or March on the short grass plains of the eastern and southern Serengeti. Calves are able to run within a matter of minutes of being born and in a very short space of time are beyond the reach of most lions. As you'd expect this period is a particularly harsh one as any calves who are slow to run become someone's breakfast pretty quickly.
These short grass plains are where the most nutritious grasses are to be found and where the migrating herds are probably least at risk from predators because there's little cover for ambush. Unfortunately, the plains have few if any permanent water sources and it doesn't take long before things begin to dry out. Before long the herds have no option but to move on.
By May or June the migration has begun to move off the southern plains through Moru Kopjes, on the way to the central Serengeti and Western Corridor. At this time of year, the bulls become increasingly aggressive as the rut gets underway. They spend most of their time running around in circles defending their females from any passing bulls. At this time of year you can find vast herds of wildebeest and from a great distance make out the rocking shape of the cavorting males. There's plenty of fighting and plenty of noise, with the distant herds sounding like a group of enormous bull frogs.
The animals move through the central Serengeti and out to the western corridor by July and August. Here they cross the Grumeti River encountering some very large crocodiles on their way. Between August and October the herds reach the Mara River with its abundance of monster crocodiles and begin crossing. Over the next month or so they cross backwards and forwards in and out of Mara / Serengeti, drawn by localised rain showers.
With the arrival of the short rains in November things start to green up once more and the herds begin their movement south again in earnest. Within a month or two they are back on the eastern and southern plains where they began life the year before.